Virtual Memory needed with 384 megs of ram?

[mike511]

I just upgraded to 384 megs of ram, and was just wondering if i need to have virtual memeory anymore? I disabled it and it seems to be running ok, but i haven't loaded the system yet. Thanks
Mike

[Andy_L]

If you do need it tho, your comp will lock when you run out of memory (I found this out when I accidentaly loaded Linux with no swap file, oops). Cant you afford to lose some HDD space??

[OuTpaTienT]

Yes you need it. Even if you don't need it, you need it. Make sense?

Some programs will look for a swap file and will not run if they don't find one, no matter how much ram you have. Quake 2 is one that I know of.

If you think the swap will never be hit (and it probably won't with 384mb of ram) then just make a permaent swap file of a reasonable size, say 100mb. However if you find any of your normal activity causes Windows to use the swap file then it'd be a good idea to increase the size to at least equal with your ram, 384mb.

[Gutter Ball]

Yes! Just like Outpatient said, some apps will look for one(even if they won't use it). I tried to disable VM with 320 megs of ram and Photoshop would no longer run! Unreal Tournament and Starcraft both crashed at various points as well. I have mine set to 100 megs and alll is well.